Libby Gill

Biography

An entertainment industry veteran, Libby Gill spent fifteen years heading public relations and corporate communications as senior vice president at Universal Studios; and vice president at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting. She was also the PR/branding brain behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show.

Libby is now an internationally respected executive coach, brand strategist and bestselling author. She has shared her success strategies on the Today Show, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN, NPR, Oprah & Friends Radio Network, Fox News, CBS Early Show, and in Time Magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, O Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Self and many more.

With a focus on getting individuals and organizations unstuck by preserving the best practices of the past and moving courageously into the future, Libby delivers keynote addresses and training programs for companies desiring to create a culture of risk-taking, innovation and bold leadership. Her proven "Clarify, Simplify & Execute" process inspires individuals and organizations to maximize their "Leadership DNA," build high-passion/high-performance teams; and increase employee engagement.

Among her achievements, Libby is most proud of having guided many professionals to career success. Her former staff members now hold senior management positions at CBS Entertainment, ESPN, Universal, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sony, ABC-Disney and many other organizations. Her coaching clients have also achieved great success in transitioning from one industry to another, climbing the corporate ladder and launching non-profit or entrepreneurial ventures.

As a consultant, Libby was instrumental in creating the comprehensive media launch that catapulted Dr. Phil to the highest ratings in daytime television since the Oprah Winfrey Show debuted. After starting her career as a temporary office assistant, in just five years Libby worked her way up to VP of publicity, advertising and promotion at Sony before moving on to Turner Broadcasting and Universal. Along the way, Libby also served in a creative capacity as vice president of television programming and development for Universal`s Studios USA working on syndicated talk and reality shows.

Deciding she would answer the call of entrepreneurship, Libby left the corporate world and founded Libby Gill & Company in November 2000. As she was reinventing her professional life, Libby`s personal life also underwent a major transition. She chronicled her journey of overcoming the self-perceived limitations left behind by a family legacy of alcoholism, divorce, mental illness and suicide in her bestselling book TRAVELING HOPEFULLY: How to Lose Your Family Baggage and Jumpstart Your Life (St. Martin`s Press).

Libby`s new bestseller YOU UNSTUCK: Mastering the New Rules of Risk-taking in Work and Life won a 2010 Independent Publishers Award. Business leaders including Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh and Dr. Ken Blanchard have endorsed her book. States Blanchard, "In YOU UNSTUCK, Libby Gill will help you understand the way you look at risk-taking so you can start moving past your fears and excuses toward success. This book is a powerful tool if you know you need to change but don`t know how. Read YOU UNSTUCK and get your life on track."

Libby`s clients have included Microsoft, Warner Bros, Siemens, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Celebree Learning Centers, Deloitte & Touche, Hewlett-Packard, Natural Products Association, The Boeing Company, Triad Hospitals, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Healthcare Businesswomen`s Association, International Association of Administrative Professionals, Cadbury Schweppes, PitneyBowes, State Farm, Financial Women International, Andrews-Kurth Legal; Parsons Brinckerhoff, National Kitchen & Bath Association and more.

The proud mother of two fabulous sons, a college sophomore and a high school sophomore, Libby lives in Los Angeles, California.

Publications

You Unstuck

Everyone gets stuck. It`s part of the human condition. Maybe you`re stuck in your career, finances, health or relationships. Or maybe life dealt you a bad blow like a layoff or divorce. The real question is this: What are you going to do about it?

YOU UNSTUCK is designed to give you hope and tools, backed with science, to get you past your sticking points. Hope because that`s the one thing you can`t afford to lose if you`re going to succeed in work and life. Science because you need the latest brain research to understand why you behave the way you do. And tools because the process of life change is so misunderstood, you may have been going at it all wrong. Otherwise, you wouldn`t be stuck right now, would you? It`s like trying to replace a flat tire without a jack. The more you try, the more hopeless you feel and more hopeless you feel, the more stuck you are. Author Libby Gill wants to help you change all that.

First, see if any of these describe you:
* You know what changes you need to make but you`re not making them
* You know what you want but you have no idea how to get there
* You`ve lost a job, a loved one or a nest egg and it`s got you totally shut down
* Your life is basically good, but there`s one area you keep avoiding
* You are living other people`s ideas about who you are and ignoring your own
* You`re willing to change everything about your life except the one thing that really matters

Getting you unstuck is less about changing your behavior than it is about changing your beliefs. Sure, you`ve got to take action. Your body isn`t going to miraculously drop those 30 or 300 pounds all by itself, no matter what the latest diet guru tells you. Your dream job isn`t going to land in your lap unless you go out and find it. But if you don`t change your belief system as you`re changing your behavior, your results will probably be short-lived and possibly even counterproductive. That`s why most dieters put all the weight they lose (and more) right back on after the diet is done.

Dedicated to helping people overcome limiting assumptions and undermining behaviors so they can make real and lasting change, Gill created the "Clarify, Simplify & Execute" program that she`s used with great success as an executive coach. Readers will learn this proven process to clarify a vision for the life they want, simplify the most direct route to get there, then aggressively execute their action plan.

Through case studies, client stories and illuminating brain research, YOU UNSTUCK guides readers to understand the biological basis of fear and why our natural survival instincts may not serve us in the modern world. Showing readers how to reframe what she calls Riskophobia, our hardwired tendency to avoid risks, Gill teaches them to tune out the fear voices and circumvent their ancient defense systems. Readers can then create an Escalating Risk Hierarchy, by "chunking down" their vision into small, actionable steps, rank ordered from least to most anxiety-inducing item so they can start at the bottom and work their way up the risk ladder. By combining stress-busting relaxation techniques with small action steps, the readers` odds for realizing their vision greatly increase in this Relax, Risk, Repeat cycle. Gill also shows readers how to Avoid Limiters & Embrace Liberators, keeping nay-sayers at bay while seeking influential supporters who can help free their creativity and productivity through the change process.

Capitalizing on her business background, coaching expertise and a personal history of risk-taking and resilience, Gill makes complex concepts relevant and accessible through immediately applicable tools, exercises, self-tests and questionnaires that challenge readers to change. Dedicated to distilling sophisticated concepts into simple action steps, Gill makes a bold promise to readers. If they faithfully follow the YOU UNSTUCK program and it doesn`t help them make significant life changes, they can contact her at www.LibbyGill.com and she will personally coach them. That`s how sure she is that, even if you think you`ve tried everything, YOU UNSTUCK will live up to its name.

Titles

YOU UNSTUCK: Creating a Culture of Risk-taking and Innovation

Sooner or later, every individual or organization gets stuck. It`s just part of the human condition. Maybe the "stuckness" manifests as a lack of agility or an unwillingness to innovate or take risks. Maybe it`s a general feeling of malaise or disengagement. However it shows up, if you ignore your stuck state, you run the risk of mediocrity becoming your new normal.

Libby Gill, executive coach, brand strategist and author of award-winning You Unstuck: The New Rules of Risk-taking in Work & Life, shows you how to shift your organizational mindset to create a culture of innovation. An entertainment industry veteran, Libby held top positions in public relations and corporate communications at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Turner Broadcasting and was the branding/PR brain behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show.

With her proven "Clarify, Simplify & Execute" process, Libby guides audiences to clarify a bold vision for success, simplify the most direct route to get there, and execute a plan against measurable milestones -- refusing to give into excuse making, inertia or indifference.

IGNITING BOLD LEADERSHIP: Inspiring High Passion & High Performance at All Levels of Your Organization

A corporate entertainment veteran, Libby Gill held senior management positions in public relations and communications at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Turner Broadcasting, and was also the branding brain behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show. During her 15-year Hollywood tenure in an industry known for cuthroat competition, she survived more than a dozen management restructures, transitions and takeovers. Yet with each change, Libby positioned her company to maintain their competitive edge -- and emerged as a leader herself.

Rising rapidly up the corporate ladder, Libby moved from office temp to C-suite division head in just five years. Now she shares her leadership strategies with organizations around the world who strive to create a culture of excellence, despite difficult times. With her proven "Clarify, Simplify & Execute" process, Libby guides corporations and individuals - from start-ups to CEOs - to create bold leaders at every level of the organization.

CAPTURE THE MINDSHARE AND THE MARKET SHARE WILL FOLLOW: Aligning Personal Brand with Organizational Vision

In these challenging times, it`s more important than ever that your brand cuts through the clutter and captures the mindshare of your customers and clients. Because once you`ve got their mindshare -- that is, their trust, loyalty, heads and hearts - the market share will follow. So how do you capture the mindshare? Executive coach, brand strategist and bestselling author Libby Gill shows association members, business owners, and executives how to create distinctive brands based on their unique gifts and authentic customer value. As the former head of PR & Communications for Universal, Sony & Turner Broadcasting -- and the branding brain behind the launch of the Dr. Phil Show -- Libby guides your group to articulate their brand so powerfully that they`ll stand out from the herd of competitors.

No wonder Good Housekeeping called her as "Dr. Phil`s secret weapon." In her high-energy, interactive presentation - including her lively audience participation game "Name That Brand" - Libby shares the 5 key strategies for creating a powerful personal brand.